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My beautiful daughter Lottie has been suffering with anorexia for a few years now, looking back I would say about 3 years. I did not know enough about it to spot the signs. I thought it was all skin and bone and not eating. I have now learnt it is so much more than that. It has completely taken over our lives and is an everyday, every second challenge. Not just with food but her mental health in general. Mood swings, reluctance to go out, shy away from family life, low self confidence and at times self harm. 

The more I delve into this world, there are so many others that are suffering too, in silence. Worried about what people might think, being brushed off as all in the mind, being overlooked in sporting activities as seen as just not good enough. 

We noticed back at the start of lockdown 1 just how thin Lottie was and as the weather got better and she came out from beneath her big hoodies we saw the devastation underneath. It took time to go through the system and finally we saw a weight clinic that said, yes, Lottie was suffering with an eating disorder. You would like to think that at that point everything would kick into gear but it was a slow process. In November 2020 we finally got to speak to CAMHS (Children and Adolescents Mental Health Service). With a meeting every 2-3 weeks we are nowhere near our journeys end, this will take months if not years.

COVID19 has bought about a fresh wave of suffers and this has been highlighted in the papers such as The Daily Mail, The Evening Standard and The Guardian with a headline of 'Doctors warn of a 'tsunami' of pandemic eating disorders'

I am hoping to bring awareness around Eating Disorders and to banish the 'shame' that surrounds it.

A Mum who will do anything to help her daughter x

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